London, Earth
Sunday evening
Miranda Elliott straightened her jacket and tried to settle her nerves. She hadn’t been Prime Minister long, and this was the moment she would be remembered for. She’d better handle it well, or she’d end up being compared to Chamberlain instead of Churchill.
No one was making those comparisons yet, but she knew they’d start as soon as this speech was over. She was announcing the beginning of a war, even if no one would call it that yet.
“Today, we saw the worst attack on our soil since the Blitz. It came without warning, and we were not prepared. Some of you may have heard by now that the attackers were space aliens. I know that’s what I read in the Sun this afternoon.”
She paused, but the journalists didn’t react. She was sure they’d heard the stories by now. Hopefully some people would laugh when they saw the speech, even though what she’d said was completely factual.
“As unlikely as that is, the Sun is mostly correct. They were aliens, but they didn’t come through space. They came out of a teleportation portal in Canary Wharf, starting some time this morning. The first reported clash was at 10:26 AM, but it’s clear they’d been coming in, killing anyone that saw them, for at least an hour before the first report.”
They’d been lucky; normally, there wouldn’t have been enough armed soldiers nearby to respond that quickly, but the Ministry of Defence had started moving armed units into key locations after the “leaked intelligence” from the US the previous evening.
She had one of her staffers trying to find out who’d had the connections to get the report; whoever it was deserved something nice, even if it couldn’t be official. She knew who’d given the order to start moving troops, but hadn’t yet decided if he was prescient or simply lucky when he gave the order based on a single unsubstantiated report.
It could have been much worse. This unit hadn’t even been headed for London; they’d actually been one their way out of the city when the news came, but they’d been close and had their gear with them for the transit. Even that was incredibly fast; most of the other units would take a day or two to begin to move. She hadn’t asked why this one moved so quickly; sometimes, it was better to simply be able to say that it was a good thing.
“The attackers came through armed with only swords and magic, but that was enough against unarmed civilians. It was not enough against our armed forces. We were able to push them back through their portal this afternoon, and it disappeared at 3:52 PM. This attack is over.”
She still didn’t know why the only footage of the portal they’d been able to locate was some taken by one of the soldiers. It would be released as soon as the press conference was over.
The soldiers’ armor hadn’t done much against the few enemies who got through, but automatic weapon fire into massed ranks of people charging on foot was terrifying. Those images were not being released.
Most of her advisors hated the next part of her speech. They’d told her to cut everything except asking for people to watch for more portals. Miranda had read her history, and she’d also read the unedited intelligence report they’d been sent through back channels. This was a probe; not only was it not over, it was barely even started yet. Even if the report didn’t say that.
“This will not be the last fight; it will not even be the last fight on British soil. We do not know where the next attack will be, but if you see anything that looks like a portal, please report it. There is more than that you can do to help. Most of you have heard of the Tutorial. You will have heard it is a place where warriors are trained, and magic is taught. What you may not have heard is that it is also a place where we can learn about new methods to make things, and perhaps even learn something of the dangers we are to face in this new world. If you are called, go, learn, and bring back something that will make you and all of us strong.”
“So watch and listen, but do not ever forget that it is our people that makes our nation great.”
“To those watching from beyond our shores, remember this: we were the first, but we will not be the last. It will be a difficult time, but we will be here when this is over.”
“Thank you.”
She wouldn’t know if the speech was a success or not for several hours.
It would have been nice to do the usual post-speech analysis and determine what worked and what didn’t, but she’d have to depend on her staff for that. On today of all days, there simply wasn’t time. She didn’t even know the extent of the damage yet, but even the first reports were worse than she’d imagined when she heard “people with swords”. There was a melted skyscraper - it hadn’t burned or collapsed, it had partially liquefied and the outside had peeled off while the interior was more or less intact.
Those pictures were already starting to get out. She hadn’t tried to stop them; that would have been a pointless waste of political capital.
A Rest from Death Dungeon
Tzintkra
Before they left the dungeon, Serenity had one more big choice to make: what was his Path moving forward? His next step was either the safe option or a detour through Death that would then leave it behind, but which of those made a Path he wanted to follow?
A single step is not a Path. A Path is many steps taken together. So far he’d been choosing one thing at a time, and that wasn’t the best way to do it. It would work early on, when nothing was set, but he could do better.
So far his major choices were Essence Dragon, Battle Adept, and Child of Time. He wasn’t really sure Death-Eater and Unbound counted, since they’d been the Paths associated with the Species he’d picked. It was all in how you looked at it.
If you looked at it the right way, he’d chosen Affinities for his Species and a choice without a specific Affinity for his Path. That seemed like a reasonable way to divide it up, but if he looked at it that way, he had to choose the path of Death - and then another element after that. He’d likely pick Void; it was his next highest Affinity and Lacuna looked interesting. Space could also work, to pair with Child of Time and his SpaceTime Affinity. He’d need to continue choosing Paths that weren’t elementally aligned, but that was simple enough.
That was one route forward. He liked the Path it made, even though he didn't like what he'd have to do to get there.
If he wanted the safe option, how did that tie into his overall Path? It completely ruined any chance to tie Species to Affinity by breaking the - no, no it didn’t. It didn’t actually say what his next Species would be. He could say that Death-Eater covered Death; it wasn’t elegant, but neither was ignoring it completely when it was the route he’d used to find Essence Dragon. In that case, his Paths couldn’t really be held separate from his Species choices, but he could consider them all together. He’d still want to choose Void and Space next, but he could do that on either a Species pick or a Path choice. He’d just have to keep avoiding choices that pushed him closer to Death, which would be difficult.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
The two Paths were similar, which meant he was starting to narrow in on what he wanted, as opposed to what he’d been pushed towards. Serenity could remember when he started learning actual magic instead of physical combat; suddenly what he wanted to do - what he wanted to be - had become clear. This was like that.
He was grateful that he wasn’t already undead this time.
[Conditional Reward: When the undeath has spread as far as you are willing to permit it to, you may choose to lock its spread. This will disable your Incarnate of Death and all Death-based abilities and magic. This must be maintained for a minimum of a week before you Evolve. Locking away your Incarnate for a week will remove all Death-based Evolutions after the one that takes in the power of the Heart and its curse. Death-based Paths will still be offered]
The choice was obvious.
The better choice - the logical choice - was to destroy the Heart.
The choice for his Path was to pursue the Conditional Reward.
Serenity made the same choice Vengeance always had. The correct choice was not the one that was logically superior but the one that led him on the Path he wanted to follow, even if he hated what he was about to do.
He’d had enough of Death; he could use its power the same way he’d use any other Affinity, but he did not want to become closer to it. He was already close enough that it would be hard to avoid without something like this. So he needed this.
It also made sense to lock in what he had, and this would do that. One Death Evolution, balanced with Evolutions of other Affinities, ones he wanted, would be fine. His next two Evolutions would have to be Void and Space; after that, he’d have to decide if that was enough Affinities or not. Arcane was attractive, but it depended on what he learned from the book he’d received from Althyr.
He removed his chest armor and shirt, then picked up the Heart and held it more or less over where his own heart was. He knew the Heart should be able to manage it from there, but nothing happened.
“What are you doing? That thing is dangerous!” Raz protested, but Serenity noticed he was carefully outside of Serenity’s reach.
Serenity turned his face towards Raz. “I told you I didn’t like my options. This is unfortunately the correct choice. I should be able to contain it without much trouble. It’s the best option for me on that Path Choice Quest.”
That was probably why the Heart wasn’t doing anything; he was probably doing too well at containing it. He reduced the power of the Eat Death in his aura as much as he could and the Heart quickly started to melt through his scales. Serenity hissed in pain but didn’t let go. He could feel the Heart melting his chest unevenly, as though it wanted to go a bit more to the right and up from where he’d guessed his own heart was. He moved it in that direction and felt the burn worsen.
“I can’t heal that, it’s too much damage to heal before it kills you. Why aren’t you bleeding?” Raz sounded actively worried.
Serenity had hoped it would go a lot faster than this. The slow speed was agonizing. He moved so that he was laying on his back with the Heart resting in the shallow depression it had made in his chest. That would work; he didn’t have to hold it and whatever was damaged wouldn’t be trying to move the wrong way because of gravity. “I can heal it. I’ve healed worse.”
At least, he thought the dining hall stabbing had been worse than this. This should be scales and hide and ribs, with hopefully little damage to other things. He hoped the Heart would move past anything else that was only sort of in the way. Even if it didn’t, he ought to be able to heal it quickly.
This was more painful, or maybe it was just that he was awake.
[Pain Resistance Increased]
The increased pain resistance didn’t really help. Once it was through his scales and skin, it did stop hurting except for the ring of skin that was trying to heal. He had to concentrate to keep his body from healing in the path of the Heart and making it take even longer.
It took far too long before it was over. When everything stopped hurting, Serenity allowed himself to check, only to find out that the Heart wasn’t done; it was simply deep enough that his body had been able to heal the surface.
It was strange. His own heart wasn’t beating - there wasn’t enough left of it - and the Heart of the Deathless wasn’t in position yet … yet blood was continuing to flow properly. He’d expected there to be some time where he depended on his healing to deal with the lack of blood flow, the same as he’d had to deal with a lack of ability to breathe when he was stabbed. It seemed he was wrong. He was grateful, but at the same time worried. The Heart was more than he’d assumed.
He kept himself still. This would be the literal worst time to move and interrupt what was happening.
It felt like it took hours, but when he asked Raz later he was told he’d only been on his back for about half an hour before he sat up and started putting his armor back on.
[Path Rejected: The Safe Plan]
[Path Rejected: Hoarding for the Future]
[Path Rejected: Somebody Else’s Problem]
[Path Rejected: A Permanent Servant]
[Path Rejected: Heart of a Monster]
Serenity decided the dungeon really was a bit too empty and draped the walls with tapestries, including in front of the Core. He put a sign next to the tapestry covering the Core, as well as near the entrance. He added carpet on the floor and set up several beds and a small kitchen area near the entrance, along with a few comfortable chairs.
“What do you think?” Serenity turned to Raz.
“Uh. It looks, ah, very different.” Raz didn’t sound convinced.
“What did I miss? It should be more comfortable?” The space looked good to Serenity.
“It is, yeah, but it looks, uh, really bright.” Raz sounded very tentative.
Colors. Right. Oops. Should have had Raz do that. “Oh. That makes sense. Can you fix it?” Serenity flopped into one of the overstuffed chairs.
Raz seemed puzzled, so he must not have realized. “I forgot about color. I can’t see it, so-” Serenity shrugged. “I can’t see at all, physically. I have a couple of vision abilities that mostly let me fake seeing. They just don’t do color.”
Raz didn’t seem to want to comment; he went around the room, correcting the colors without speaking. When he finished, it had been long enough that they could take care of some more of the damage to Raz’s hand. They reached a little ways onto the thumb, but Raz didn’t want to completely drain his mana before heading outside, so they stopped there.
Serenity hopped up and led the way out of the dungeon. When Serenity opened the door, he was met with a completely unexpected sight: a small group of people seemed to be camped where Garrett’s group had abandoned their tents. They’d been talking when the door opened, but seemed to be preparing to fight as Serenity left the dungeon.
A quick glance around showed that portions of the old camp were still in place, but the claim marker was gone. Serenity assumed Greyvine had taken it, since there was no appreciable damage to the ground. Claim markers were made to be easily removed by people registered to them, but difficult for anyone else.
A man in heavy armor stepped forward, looking at Serenity and Raz. He had a symbol on his shoulder that looked familiar to Serenity, and both of the others seemed to also have the same symbol on their armor or other gear. The symbol wasn’t as simple as a colored patch; instead, it seemed to be some kind of glued-on piece of leather or metal; Serenity couldn’t tell. It looked like a flying bird.
The other two both wore heavy leather clothing, similar to the armor Serenity was wearing. All three seemed young to Serenity; mid to late twenties, at a guess.
The armored man held his hand in a position that Serenity vaguely recognized as being one of the common silent signs. It might have been ‘Wait’. It was clearly directed at the rest of his group, because they took a step back, though they didn’t lower their weapons. “You two are a surprise.”
“I wasn’t expecting anyone out here, so I guess that’s fair. Who are you?” Serenity figured he’d start with polite. He thought he recognized the symbol, but he wasn’t sure. It’d been a very, very long time, and memories fade. It didn’t help that he could only tell its shape; if it had any fine details or color, he couldn’t make them out with Eyeless Sight.
Serenity had been expecting an update to his Path Choice Quest when he left the dungeon. It hadn’t come yet, but it didn’t take much deliberation to figure out that whatever it was, it would probably have to do with these people.